Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Charlie Daniels Band 1974 Volunteer Jam I

When Charlie Daniels held his first-ever Volunteer Jam in his home state of Tennessee, the tapes were rolling and the cameras were as well. Sections of the jam were filmed and released theatrically in 1975.

This live recording serves as a good cross section of the music that was created on-stage that day; there is also an EP included in Daniels' Fire on the Mountain album, taken from the same show. The Charlie Daniels Band burn white-hot on the first three numbers before turning the show over to the Marshall Tucker Band for a smoking version of "The Thrill Is Gone." The CDB backs Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band on the J.J. Cale tune "Sweet Mama," and the stage fills for the finale, "Mountain Dew," with Betts, Mylon LeFevre, Jimmy Hall of Wet Willie, and Ronnie Stoneman on banjo -- a down-home hoedown.

This album serves as a landmark, the beginning of a Charlie Daniels tradition that would continue into the 21st century.